A Grave Decision
by Zelofheda
Summary: Robin Hood is dead, and the gang needs a new leader. A challenge fic from RobinHood2006.


This was written for the Fanfic Challenge #4 over at RobinHood2006: "Robin Hood is dead, who steps up to take his place?" All comments and criticisms are gratefully accepted.

xxxxx

Robin Hood was dead.

Inwardly grieving, John Little looked at the little circle of mourners around the body. Much had been Robin's closest companion since childhood, even closer than Marian, or Kate. For once, Allan a Dale didn't have anything to say, though normally, he always had a quick retort just on the tip of his tongue. He was a self-serving trickster who had once abandoned the gang and gone to work for Gisborne solely for money. Robin had felt the betrayal deeply, John knew, and he also knew that Robin had been delighted when Allan had come back, trusting that the man had found a bigger cause than coins. John himself wasn't so sure about Allan, and resolved to keep even more of an eye on him than before.

Then there was Luke Scarlett, Will's brother, who was young and eager – too young, John thought, and too eager. Friar Tuck stood there as well, another recent addition to their gang. He had black skin and came from some place even farther away than the Holy Land, but he spoke English and had also grown up a Christian, three things that never ceased to amaze John. And lastly, there was Kate, the lass from the village who'd brought a bit of life back to Robin in those months following Marian's death.

"I want Gisborne to suffer," Kate said in a low, husky voice. "I want him to suffer for this – slowly!"

"Very slowly," Much said. "When I think that Robin might be alive now if I hadn't stopped him from torturing Gisborne that time, or killing him, I could … I could …"

"Kick yourself in the backside?" Allan suggested, and Much agreed. "Yes! With both feet! At once! Even though that might be quite difficult."

"You might end up on your knees," said Friar Tuck, without any twinkle in his brown eyes. "And if you do, say a prayer for me while you're down there, Much. I'll need it if I am to go after Gisborne."

Much looked at him in surprise. "Aren't you going to bury him first?"

"Do I look like a gravedigger?" Tuck asked in a low and dangerous voice.

"Well, not bein' funny, mate, but you do look like someone who should be blessing graves and saying masses, not swingin' a sword," Allan put in.

"Simply because I have taken the cross, I should be stuck with all the work while you lot go off and have all the fun?"

"Well, yeah," Allan said. "Luke can stay here and help – he's too young, anyway." Luke made a sound of protest, but Allan continued, "And once we kill Guy, we'll bring back his head on a pike – I mean, a cross, and stick it on the grave for a headstone."

"Excuse me, but who died and left you in charge?" Much demanded. There was a moment of silence as they all looked down at Robin's body, and then Allan said, "Well, I don't remember that he left _you_ in charge, Much!"

Luke said, "I am NOT too young to go up against Guy or anybody else! I'm as old as Will was when he was first outlawed."

"Really?" Allan asked skeptically, and Luke drew his sword. "I'm old enough to kill you if I have to!"

"Oi, take it easy!" Allan cried, drawing his own sword, but Tuck stomped over until he could grab them both by the back of the neck. "Shall I bang your heads together until you see stars or sense or whichever comes first?"

After a long moment of staring each other down, Allan and Luke resheathed their swords, and Tuck let go.

Breaking the silence, Kate said, "I don't want Guy's head or any other part of him anywhere near Robin."

"Right," said Allan. "We can always put it above the city gates."

"I will decide what we do with Gisborne's head," Much declared.

"I say we don't kill Gisborne," Kate said, and the men looked at her in astonishment.

"What?" Luke asked.

"I say we make him suffer such torment that he will wish for death, but not kill him," Kate went on. "And not let him kill himself, either."

"Yeah!" Luke cheered, but Tuck frowned. "An enemy who is alive can always be rescued and returned to his former glory."

"We should kill him," Much agreed, nodding heftily.

"Hey, a moment ago, you wanted him to suffer slowly, too!" Allan protested.

"Well, yeah, but I meant for an hour or two, maybe even a day, not keep him alive indiff – indifine – forever," Much replied.

John sighed. If things went on like this, they'd still be arguing when the maggots started swarming over Robin's body. Clearing his throat, he got their attention, then announced, "We kill him."

"Right," said Allan.

Luke and Kate considered this for a moment, then shrugged at almost the same time, signalling their grudging acceptance.

"So, that's settled, then," Tuck said. "Now we must decide who will bury Robin."

"And where," Kate put in. When everybody looked at her, she added, "He told me once he wanted to be buried next to Marian."

"That would be a bit difficult, with Marian in Acre and Robin here," Much said.

Putting a hand to his stomach, Allan declared, "I am not getting on a boat again, ever! And especially not with a coffin in tow!"

John swallowed convulsively at the memory of seasickness as well.

"We'd line it with lead," Luke told him, looking hurt. "You wouldn't smell anything. Well, not much, anyway." He paused. "Not until it got really hot."

"It gets really hot in Acre!" Allan exclaimed.

"The trip would take us away from Gisborne for too long," Tuck reminded them. "I suggest a grave closer to home. There is still space near St. Mary's church in Nottingham."

"Do you expect us to just walk in and bury him in broad daylight, right under Gisborne's nose?" Much demanded.

"It would be hallowed ground," Tuck shot back. "And as for Gisborne, I thought we just agreed we were going to kill him. What better place?"

"I don't like it," Much said, shaking his head. "I mean, what if he interrupts us before we get Robin properly buried?"

"Then we throw him in the open grave and kill him there," Tuck said. "Like I said before, what better place?"

"It just doesn't seem right," Much insisted.

"Maybe we could creep in at night?" Luke suggested. "Nobody would see us then. Gisborne and his guards would never know we were there."

"At night!" Allan exclaimed. "In a graveyard!"

"Wouldn't somebody hear the noise of digging and come to see what was going on?" Kate asked.

"I could help convince the priest to look the other way," Tuck said.

"I'm more worried about us disturbing something that ought not be disturbed," Allan said. "I mean, isn't the Sheriff buried there? What if he, you know, came back?"

The prospect of seeing Vasey's ghost made everybody shudder. Even John wasn't certain that the man was truly suffering in hell. To judge by his deeds on earth, it was more likely the devil had promoted him to master of arms directly upon his arrival there. Allan went on, "And anyway, if Gisborne finds out where he's buried, what's to stop him from digging Robin up and taking his head to put on a spike? I say we bury him here."

"In the middle of our camp?" Much was indignant. "I knew you were just looking for a chance to walk all over him, Allan, but this – this is the most irreverent and despicable –"

"I meant, in the forest," Allan explained.

John sighed again. Things had been much easier when Robin was alive; he'd made the decisions and there'd been much less bickering. If they went on like this, they'd still be arguing when Robin was reduced to nothing more than a skeleton. Clearing his throat, he got their attention, then said, "We bury him in the forest."

"But the hallowed ground!" Kate wailed.

"Bless it, he will," John declared, indicating Tuck. The friar nodded. "I am a priest, you know, not just a man with a cross to bear."

Kate smiled in relief. "All right, then."

"And where?" Much demanded, looking to John for guidance.

John thought for a moment, then said, "You shoot an arrow. We bury him where it falls."

Much nodded, and reached for his bow. John stopped him, and looked around the circle. "We all dig. And then, we go to Nottingham. For Gisborne. All of us."

Nobody objected, nobody shrugged, nobody showed anything except quiet acceptance.

"We are Robin Hood," John reminded them. "All of us."

And after Much had shot the arrow, they ran to see where it had fallen, all of them falling back to let John take the lead, but all of them calling out with one voice, "We are Robin Hood! All of us!"


End file.
